Gripper for printing-presses



F. CASPER. GRIPPER FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLiCATION FILED JAN 8, I920.

Patented July 27, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT/ OFFICE.

FRANK CASPER, or" CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-SIXTH 'ro PAT GRADY, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIOJ I RICK s.

GRIrrER'FoR PRINTING-PRESSES;

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 27, 1920.

Application fil'ed January 8, 1920. Serial No. 350,075.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK CAsPnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grippers for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a s eci fication. I

his invention relates to an improvement in grippers for printing presses and has for its object to provide an improved auxiliary attachment to be applied to the gripper bars usually provided on presses of the bed and platen type.

Heretofore printers have experienced difficulty in making the sheets of paper lie flat upon the platen of the press, the grippers ordinarily supplied upon the presses engaging the sides of the paper only, and due to the movement of the press and suction created when leaving the surface of the type the paper moves frequently resulting in poor copies. Various methods have been employed to correct this, such as the stretchingof strings or rubber bands, and they provision of auxiliary clips, which extend atright angles to the grippers of the press and are normally held in place by frictional engagement only, these are but makeshift arrangements whose period of effectiveness is necessarily of short duration, and, furthermore, the use of said clips is frequently prevented when .certain kinds of printing or ruling is being done, such as in the printing of statements, bill heads, ledger sheets and the like, where a plurality 'of columns are provided.

The object of the device as illustrated consists in the provision of means which can be readily adjusted to suit different work and the provision of a second finger slidably mounted upon another thereby to hold the paper when columnar work is being done.

The invention further consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter illustrated, described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

Referring to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate similar parts of reference throughout the various views, Figure 1 is a plan of the device constructed in accordance with the principles above set forth; Fig. 2 is an.edge view and Fig.

3 is a sectional detail corresponding to the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The invention consists of a gripper 1 properly secured to the gripper bar of the press, and the method of securing this to vthe press is common and well known to those familiar with the art, and illustration is therefore not deemed necessary. Along one of the-edges of the aforementioned gripper a plurality of notches 2 are provided for a purpose to be described. The attachment comprises a finger 3 which is reinforced longitudinally by a rib 4 pressed upwardly from the metal and said rib is formed as an extension of a box-like frame or structure indicated generally at 5. This consists of a stamping formed with a bottom wall 6 whichhas its outer surface on the same plane with that of the finger 3. This is necessary in that the entire surface is required to lie fiat upon the paper, thus holding the same tightly against the platen at all times. A side 7 is formed at the outer edge of the bottom and a top 8 is formed bent at right angles to the side and opposite the side 7 the top 8 has formed thereon an ear 9 and a detent 10, is provided upon one end of a lever 11 which is pivoted upon a pin 12 whose ends are secured to the aforesaid ear 9 and the finger 3, and a leaf spring 13 is interposed between the lever 11 and the frame 5 in such a manner as to normally hold the detent in engagement with one of the notches 2 of the gripper. The aforementioned construction permits the finger 3 to be adjusted longitudinally of the gripper bar and in a manner which will prevent any vibration of the press from displacing the same after being properly adjusted.

he aforegoing construction of parts is very effective for ordinary straight printing, but as before mentioned, when co-' lumnar work is being done it is obvious that were the columns to extend vertically upon the paper the finger 3 would thereforebe in the way, and to offset this difiiculty I provide a second finger 20, said finger befinger 3 is adjusted to the extreme end of the gripper 1 so that it comprises a position at the top, or sometimes at the bottom of the sheet, where a horizontal blank is left upon the sheet for either a heading or a balance, the finger 20 may be adjusted in such a way as to position itself between the vertical columns and if a plurality of fingers of varying lengths be employed it is obvious that an effective method of preventing the sheet from any movement is provided and as the foregoing construction provides accurate, clean cut copies being had the invention entirely eliminates the trouble heretofore pointed out.

While I have shown and described this vparticular embodiment of the invention it will be apparent that numerous other modifications may be employed for obtaining a like result and I do not wish to limit myself in the construction of the same further than is required by the state of the art or that which comes within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A gripper notched along one edge and provided with a finger having a frame slidable along the gripper, said frame having front and back walls between which the gripper is inclosed, the front wall having an ear projecting inwardly beyond the edge of the gripper, a pivot pin-connecting said ear and the finger, and a spring catch pivoted on said pin, between the ear and the finger and adapted to engage any one of the notches.

In testimony whereof, I do aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK CASPER.

Witnesses: 7

JOHN A. BOMMHARDT, ROBERT L. BRUOK. 

